23/23

The win at the Riverside Stadium puts Chelsea top of the table with 28 points from 12 games after Arsenal and Liverpol had both drawn on Saturday, with Costa continuing his impressive run in front of goal to boost Conte's title hopes.

The Italian coach named an unchanged line-up for the fifth league game in a row - the first time the blues have done so in the Premier League era.

Costa and Eden Hazard were both declared fit to start after picking up problems on international duty, but the striker showed no ill-effects as he netted to send Chelsea into the break a goal ahead after a disjointed opening 45 minutes.

Costa capitalised on Boro's failure to clear their lines from a deflected corner, sneaking in between the defenders to volley past Victor Valdes from six yards out after 41 minutes.

Chelsea almost went two goals ahead straight after the restart, with Valdes saving a low Larcos Alonso effort before Calum Chambers did just enough to deny Pedro a simple tap-in from the rebound.

Karanka's men responded by pressing higher up the pitch, but that left space in behind for Chelsea to press and counter.

Pedro almost finished a fine passing move from David Luiz and Costa, but his half-volley crashed off the woodwork with Valdes well beaten 19 minutes into the second half.

The Boro keeper then had to be alert to close down Victor Moses after the wing-back had been put through one-on-one by Costa.

Karanka’s men rallied and put more pressure on Chelsea – with former Barcelona youngster Adama Traore impressing with marauding midfield runs – but the hosts lacked the quality to really hurt Conte’s side as they made it six league wins (and clean sheets) on the bounce to take top spot.